WOC Middle distance

Got back from a children’s birthday party in time to watch most of yesterday’s competition. Both races had close finishes, with Minna Kauppi overtaking Simone Niggli in the women’s race when it appeared that Niggli ran towards the clock symbol next to control 15 on her map, rather than to the control circle. The men’s race was even closer, with Peter Öberg and Carl Waaler Kaas matching each other virtually stride for stride for the whole 30 minutes till Kaas took a few seconds out of Öberg down the final hill.

The funniest moment of the day was the post-race interview with Matt Speake, who said he’d had a crap race on shitty terrain. 🙂 Best moment, from a British perspective, was Graham Gristwood’s excellent run. His was the best performance from the non-big orienteering nations, apart from Alex Kratov, who came in 5th for Ukraine.

All that remains now is the relay on Sunday lunchtime. I expect the women’s race to be close between Finland, Norway and Sweden and the men’s race to be between Norway, Sweden, France, Switzerland and Russia. The order I’ve listed them in is the order I predict they’ll finish in, barring wasp-swallowings and other quirks of fate.